Jon LaJoie

10 Comics to Watch

French-Canadian actor Jon LaJoie has long had a taste for off-color and unconventional humor but generally kept it under wraps while starring in the hit Quebecois dramedy series “Du Auberge Chien Noir” (“The Inn of the Black Dog”).

All of that changed when his career focus diverted from college-trained actor to shotgun Internet comedian about a year ago.

“I had some time off and I was sorta bored,” he remembers of his encounter with online comedy videos. That’s when he started browsing through the thousands of clips that make up the biggest comedy sites on the Web, like Funny or Die and College Humor.

His interest in comedy clips quickly became an obsession as he began spending his downtime shooting his own Internet creations structured around songs he wrote.

Fast-forward to the present, and LaJoie’s name is plastered all over websites that inspired him.

Combining a knack for skewering pop culture with a love for making music, LaJoie has joined the ranks of Adam Sandler and the Flight of the Conchords as musicians-cum-comedians (or vice versa) that know how to get a laugh while creating a catchy hook.

“I’ve never been that funny guy in the group; I’ve just always been … a guy. Maybe that weird guy that stands in the corner not saying anything,” he says.

But it’s that everyman attitude that makes his jabs at everything from the evening news to Britney Spears both hilarious and strangely ironic. In his most popular musical offerings, he plies ironic hip-hop machismo and grandeur to his average, everyday, Canadian-guy life.

“It’s not sexist because I’m sayin’ it in a song,” he croons in Funny or Die vid “Show Me Your Genitals.” “That’s right, bitch, now take off your thong.”

LaJoie’s Internet popularity helped him secure U.S. agency representation, and since then, he’s been in talks with several U.S. cable networks.

For now, LaJoie is focused on bringing a live version of his videos to the Just for Laughs festival in what he describes as a “one-man sketch comedy show.”

POV

LaJoie seems to understand that some of his online, irony-tinged musicvid hits won’t fly on American TV. “If I were to pitch ‘Show Me Your Genitals,’ I highly doubt they’d put that on television,” he notes.